What if Lionblaze had been the one to reject?
by Tigercry
Summary: "Lionblaze," Jayfeather growled curtly, remembering Halfmoon and the pain from leaving her back in the mountains, "Your destiny is more important." He turned over to blind gaze on his brother, "You'll end up hurting her." Lionblaze's amber eyes widened, he hadn't thought of it that way. What if Lionblaze had broke Cinderheart's heart instead of the other way around?


A Broken Heart

"Your destiny is more important," Jayfeather grunted curtly, remembering what it had been like to leave Halfmoon in the mountains and be a medicine cat despite his want to become a warrior. "If you become mates with Cinderheart it'll put her in danger," he warned his brother, voice with gruff"Once the dark forest cats know that she's special to you it'll put her at risk." Lionblaze froze, he hadn't thought about that at all, Cinderheart would be in danger?!

:( :( :(

Lionblaze waited for the other warriors to go to sleep before rising to his paws and carefully prodding his den mate with one paw, quietly waking the sleeping silver gray tabby. "Cinderheart," he hissed quietly, "I need to talk to you!"

"What?" Cinderheart yawned, her ears and whiskers twitched before her turquoise colored eyes opened and she got to her paws, movements swift when the tabby she-cat noticed the urgency in his mew and the anxious look in his amber eyes. "Aren't we talking right now?" She mewed with amusement, attempting to diffuse the tension but failing when Lionblaze turned and padded out of the den, she followed moments later, confused, but with a hunch that she was not going to like what he had to say.

"Where're you two going?" Hazeltail mewed to them from where she and Mouswhisker were guarding the camp entrance.

"We'll be back in a moment, just stretching our paws," Lionblaze replied to them, his meow flat and mostly emotionless.

:( :(

Lionblaze led the way to the lake, sitting at the shore, Cinderheart sitting back on her haunches next to him, pushing her head against his cheek and purring softly, trying to provide him with some kind of comfort. Lionblaze's heart felt heavy with what he was about to tell her, he knew it would disappoint her. Staring at their combined reflection in the water he let his eyes close for a few brief moments, breathing in her sweet scent for one of the last times before he got to his paws and padded a few paw steps away from her, leaving her to stare at him with hurt in her eyes. "Cinderheart," He mewed softly, able to see her out of the corner of his eye, "We can't be more than fellow warriors."

Cinderheart got to her paws and bounded over to him, standing in front of him, blue eyes gleaming with hurt and confusion, "Why? What happened? What changed between us?" She asked, her meow trembling slightly, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you did nothing wrong, I don't want to put you in danger, you mean too much to me," Lionblaze told her, turning away from her, wanting only to rub his cheek against hers and comfort her at the sight of the tears welling in her eyes.

"Don't I get a choice?" She asked in an upset mew, "I love you Lionblaze!"

Lionblaze forced himself to start padding away when he wanted to turn back around towards her, lick her face, purr, and admit he loved her as well, "I know you do, but I don't want to hurt you or have you get injured because of me."

Cinderheart breathed, "You already hurt me." She turned and raced away into the forest, crashing blindly through the undergrowth, vision blinded by tears.

:( :(

She didn't come back to camp for the rest of the night, instead, choosing to hunt tirelessly, trying to distract herself from the pain of her broken heart. She went back to camp at dawn, making several trips to collect her prey before asking Brambleclaw if there was any way she could join the dawn patrol that her parents were going on.

"Cloudtail! You're welcome to go back to your den, Cinderheart's willing to take your spot!" Brambleclaw called to the grumpy looking warrior who turned tail and went straight back into his den while Cinderheart bounded over to the patrol, staying close to her mother. Sorreltail seemed to sense her daughter's distress and gave her a few comforting licks between the ears alongside a humorous comment.

"I think you took over the Hunting patrol's job Cinderheart," She meowed, purring with amusement.

"I needed something to keep me busy." The silver and gray tabby meowed softly, walking alongside her mother, looking for comfort.

"What happened? You were so happy yesterday." Sorreltail asked gently as they walked toward the Windclan border.

"I don't want to talk about it." Cinderheart murmured softly, and her mother dropped it, instead, letting her daughter walk close to her and ran her tail along her spine.

 _ **It may be short, but I've had it for weeks and forgot to post it. Maybe Ill write a sequel, who knows :)**_


End file.
